Provinciale Statenverkiezingen 2023

How do political campaigns target voters?

Methodology

In collaboration with Who Targets Me, we monitored over 1000 Dutch political advertisers during the 2023 Provinciale Statenverkiezingen (Provincial elections) to better understand how campaigns use different targeting methods made available by Meta. To do this, we used data from the Meta Ad Library, using the new ‘Audience’ data which gives some detail on how pages target their ads.

To better understand the regional election, we kept only advertisers who:

  1. Advertised in the last 7 days (Mar 6th - Mar 12th 2023)
  2. Advertised in the last 30 days (Feb 11th - Mar 12th 2023)

Note: Meta only provides 7, 30 and 90 days windows for the targeting data in their Ad Library. Meta’s data also lags by a few days. We will update this report as soon as new data is available.

Topline Statistics

Meta

Daily Spend

Feb 11th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 30 days)

In total, political parties spend €600,873 and ran 5772 ad copies on Meta in this timeframe.

Number of Advertisers Top Spenders Number of Ads Total Spend

PvdA

39


1. Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) (€41,413)
2. PvdA Zuid-Holland (€13,737)
3. PvdA Noord Holland (€8,986)

640

€93,230

GroenLinks

25


1. GroenLinks (€81,072)
2. GroenLinks Zuid-Holland (€3,814)
3. GroenLinks Brabant (€2,485)

316

€92,241

CDA

34


1. CDA Noord-Holland (€13,852)
2. CDA Zuid-Holland (€10,904)
3. CDA Limburg (€8,249)

659

€85,896

SP

13


1. SP (€53,594)
2. Lilian Marijnissen (€4,091)
3. SP Noord-Brabant (€795)

398

€59,493

VVD

48


1. VVD (€16,303)
2. Limburgse VVD (€10,982)
3. VVD Drenthe (€3,167)

856

€51,115

Volt Nederland

4


1. Volt Nederland (€25,691)
2. Volt Noord-Holland (€4,943)
3. Volt Brabant (€2,762)

802

€35,418

FvD

4


1. Forum voor Democratie -FVD (€33,030)
2. Thierry Baudet (€1,327)
3. Wybren van Haga (€770)

268

€35,227

PvdD

14


1. Partij voor de Dieren (€18,143)
2. Partij voor de Dieren Zuid-Holland (€2,284)
3. Partij voor de Dieren Noord-Holland (€1,942)

265

€27,365

BBB

7


1. BBB BoerBurgerBeweging (€23,887)
2. BBB Boerburgerbeweging Noord-Holland (€1,080)
3. BBB Boerburgerbeweging Zeeland (€529)

85

€25,959

BVNL

7


1. Belang van Nederland - BVNL (€20,888)
2. BVNL Gelderland (€320)
3. BVNL-Haarlemmermeer (€241)

87

€22,007

D66

22


1. D66 Noord-Holland (€3,622)
2. D66 Zuid-Holland (€2,185)
3. D66 Provincie Utrecht (€1,923)

221

€19,881

Ja21

4


1. Ja21 (€10,776)
2. JA21 Noord-Holland (€579)
3. JA21 Drenthe (€226)

325

€11,685

PVV

11


1. Geert Wilders (€6,969)
2. PVVLimburg (€1,298)
3. PVV Fryslan (€441)

64

€9,889

ChristenUnie

19


1. ChristenUnie Flevoland (€2,836)
2. ChristenUnie (€1,420)
3. ChristenUnie Noord-Holland (€949)

235

€9,237

50PLUS

5


1. 50PLUSpartij (€6,825)
2. 50PLUSFlevoland (€1,190)
3. 50PLUS-Overijssel (€569)

86

€8,937

DENK

4


1. DENK (€5,454)
2. Mahmut Sungur DENK (€814)
3. Ekrem Selimspahic (€238)

378

€6,606

SGP

5


1. SGP (€2,069)
2. SGP Zeeland (€1,123)
3. SGP provincie Gelderland (€828)

59

€4,220

Alliantie

2


1. Henriette van Hedel - Alliantie (€1,997)
2. Alliantie (€470)

28

€2,467

Mar 6th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 7 days)

In total, political parties spend €352,082 and ran 4194 ad copies on Meta in this timeframe.

Number of Advertisers Top Spenders Number of Ads Total Spend

CDA

32


1. CDA Zuid-Holland (€10,904)
2. CDA Noord-Holland (€8,374)
3. CDA Limburg (€6,037)

571

€64,187

GroenLinks

21


1. GroenLinks (€47,340)
2. GroenLinks Zuid-Holland (€3,814)
3. GroenLinks Brabant (€1,396)

242

€55,849

PvdA

36


1. Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) (€18,237)
2. PvdA Zuid-Holland (€10,649)
3. PvdA Brabant (€5,836)

521

€54,619

VVD

42


1. VVD (€10,705)
2. Limburgse VVD (€8,209)
3. VVD Drenthe (€2,427)

727

€35,948

FvD

2


1. Forum voor Democratie -FVD (€17,609)
2. Thierry Baudet (€1,327)

252

€18,936

PvdD

13


1. Partij voor de Dieren (€11,486)
2. Partij voor de Dieren Zuid-Holland (€2,284)
3. Partij voor de Dieren Noord-Brabant (€1,105)

184

€18,065

SP

10


1. SP (€15,814)
2. Lilian Marijnissen (€1,045)
3. SP Noord-Brabant (€472)

196

€18,041

Volt Nederland

4


1. Volt Nederland (€8,592)
2. Volt Noord-Holland (€4,569)
3. Volt Brabant (€2,159)

521

€17,342

BVNL

7


1. Belang van Nederland - BVNL (€16,352)
2. BVNL Gelderland (€303)
3. Arjan de Kok - BVNL (€150)

73

€17,255

D66

21


1. D66 Noord-Holland (€1,999)
2. D66 Zuid-Holland (€1,345)
3. D66 Provincie Utrecht (€1,184)

116

€11,907

BBB

7


1. BBB BoerBurgerBeweging (€8,164)
2. BBB Boerburgerbeweging Noord-Holland (€829)
3. BBB Boerburgerbeweging Zeeland (€204)

43

€9,660

Ja21

4


1. Ja21 (€6,803)
2. JA21 Noord-Holland (€579)
3. JA21 Drenthe (€226)

176

€7,712

ChristenUnie

18


1. ChristenUnie (€1,338)
2. ChristenUnie Flevoland (€1,335)
3. ChristenUnie Provincie Utrecht (€822)

174

€5,940

50PLUS

5


1. 50PLUSpartij (€4,813)
2. 50PLUSFlevoland (€684)
3. 50PLUS-Overijssel (€146)

53

€5,843

PVV

8


1. Geert Wilders (€2,566)
2. PVVLimburg (€998)
3. PVV Fryslan (€215)

33

€4,407

DENK

4


1. DENK (€2,582)
2. Mahmut Sungur DENK (€382)
3. Ekrem Selimspahic (€238)

251

€3,302

SGP

4


1. SGP (€1,214)
2. SGP Zeeland (€724)
3. SGP provincie Gelderland (€245)

43

€2,283

Alliantie

2


1. Alliantie (€435)
2. Henriette van Hedel - Alliantie (€351)

18

€786

Google

For Google platforms, data accessed via the Google Transparency Report provides exact spending on how much money was spent by parties in last 30 and 7 days.

Daily Spen

February 13th to March 14th 2023 (Last 30 days)

In total, political parties spend €407,100 and ran 2176 ad copies on Google in this timeframe.

Number of Ads Top Spenders Total Spend

GroenLinks

126


1. GroenLinks (€88,900)
2. Stichting GroenLinks in de EU (€50)

€88,950

FvD

20


1. Forum voor Democratie (€82,550)

€82,550

D66

145


1. D66 (€50,600)

€50,600

Volt Nederland

988


1. Volt Nederland (€42,100)

€42,100

CDA

177


1. Christen Democratisch Appèl (€26,400)
2. Stichting statenfractie CDA Gelderland (€9,300)
3. CDA Doetinchem (€50)

€35,750

SP

39


1. SP (Socialistische Partij) (€26,300)

€26,300

BBB

145


1. Marc-Michel Strijker (€24,600)

€24,600

VVD

108


1. VVD (€17,950)
2. Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (€1,950)

€19,900

PvdA

20


1. Partij van de Arbeid (€11,200)

€11,200

JA21

20


1. Conservatieve Liberalen (€9,050)

€9,050

DENK

24


1. Politieke beweging DENK (€6,400)

€6,400

50PLUS

140


1. Stichting fractieondersteuning 50plus Flevoland (€4,000)
2. VLG (€2,200)

€6,200

BVNL

11


1. Belang Van Nederland (€1,800)

€1,800

ChristenUnie

213


1. ChristenUnie (€1,700)

€1,700

March 8th to March 14th 2023 (Last 7 days)

In total, political parties spend €277,350 and ran 1781 ad copies on Google in this timeframe.

Number of Ads Top Spenders Total Spend

GroenLinks

116


1. GroenLinks (€65,650)

€65,650

FvD

18


1. Forum voor Democratie (€63,150)

€63,150

D66

139


1. D66 (€41,750)

€41,750

CDA

168


1. Christen Democratisch Appèl (€27,050)
2. Stichting statenfractie CDA Gelderland (€4,800)

€31,850

Volt Nederland

747


1. Volt Nederland (€20,150)

€20,150

VVD

89


1. VVD (€14,350)
2. Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (€800)

€15,150

SP

30


1. SP (Socialistische Partij) (€13,850)

€13,850

BBB

133


1. Marc-Michel Strijker (€8,900)

€8,900

PvdA

18


1. Partij van de Arbeid (€4,700)

€4,700

JA21

20


1. Conservatieve Liberalen (€4,050)

€4,050

DENK

21


1. Politieke beweging DENK (€3,650)

€3,650

50PLUS

67


1. VLG (€1,800)
2. Stichting fractieondersteuning 50plus Flevoland (€350)

€2,150

ChristenUnie

204


1. ChristenUnie (€1,250)

€1,250

BVNL

11


1. Belang Van Nederland (€1,100)

€1,100

Spending per Targeting Criteria

How much did campaigns spend on different targeting methods?

Feb 11th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 30 days)

Overall

By Party

Mar 6th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 7 days)

Overall

By Party

Top Targeted Audiences

Here, we show the top targeted audiences for each party (ranked by amount of Euro spend). Most (but not all) of these audiences are “interest” audiences, i.e. the parties targeted people interested in “Books” or “Politics”.

Feb 11th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 30 days)

Mar 6th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 7 days)

Top Contested Audiences

Here, we show the top most contested audiences, i.e. where all parties have spent considerable amounts of money competing to reach voters with the same interests. Most (but not all) of these audiences are “interest” audiences, i.e. the parties targeted people interested in “Books” or “Politics”. In each row on the right hand side, you can see how much in total was spend on that specific target audience.

Feb 11th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 30 days)

Mar 6th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 7 days)

Age Targeting

Feb 11th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 30 days)

Mar 6th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 7 days)

Gender Targeting

Feb 11th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 30 days)

Mar 6th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 7 days)

Education Targeting

Feb 11th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 30 days)

Mar 6th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 7 days)

Job Targeting

Feb 11th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 30 days)

Mar 6th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 7 days)

ZIP Code Targeting

The following maps show ZIP code targeting for a few parties that spend a lot on this kind of targeting method. It’s important to note that the spending here “overlaps”, i.e. one cannot sum up across all different ZIP codes as some targeted ZIP codes have a shared budget.

Feb 11th - Mar 12th 2023 (Last 30 days)

VVD

CDA

ChristenUnie